Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 8, 2002Volume 30, Number 17


John F. Matthews

John Matthews is appointed
the John M. Schiff Professor

John F. Matthews, the newly named John M. Schiff Professor of Classics and History, is an authority on later Roman history.

His research has centered on the interplay of social, political and cultural aspects in the later Roman west, Roman historiography and on how Roman law was promulgated and transmitted. His current research is on the social and economic (including financial and dietary) history of the east Roman world as revealed in an early fourth-century travel dossier preserved in a papyrus archive. Matthews is also preparing a book built around a translation of this text to make it more accessible for a wider audience.

Matthews' books include "Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364-425," "Political Life and Culture in Late Roman Society" and, most recently, "Laying Down the Law: a Study of the Theodosian Code." He is the co-author of "Atlas of the Roman World," which has been translated into nine languages, and "The Goths in the Fourth Century." He has written numerous articles on the political, social, economic and legal history of the later Roman period.

A native of England, Matthews earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Queen's College, Oxford, where he won the University Ancient History Prize. He also received his doctorate at Oxford and won the Conington Prize, which is awarded every three years for a dissertation in the fields of ancient history, classics and philosophy. He became a lecturer in late Roman history at Oxford in 1969, was appointed British Academy research reader in the Humanities in 1988 and university reader (ad hominem) in the middle and late Roman Empire in 1990. He became professor (ad hominem) of later Roman history in 1992. Matthews held these positions with fellowships of Corpus Christi College and of Queen's College, Oxford.

Matthews joined the Yale faculty in 1996 and currently serves as chair of the Department of Classics. He served as director of graduate studies in classics in 1997.

Matthews has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a fellow of the National Humanities Center. He was a visiting research fellow in the School of History, Philosophy and Politics at Macquarie University, New South Wales and in 1992 was the first Ronald Syme Memorial Lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has been an invited lecturer and conference speaker at universities in the United States and Great Britain. He has served as a referee for both the Yale and Princeton University presses.

Elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1990, Matthews is also a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London.

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